Thread by @areacode416

Big article on the gentrification of #Parkdale in the Guardian. "Huge international real estate investment firms have embedded themselves in Parkdale’s urban fabric, buying dozens of apartment towers and thousands of rental units." /1
theguardian.com/cities/2020/ja…

Giant corporate players include:
▪️ Starlight Investments, teaming with "Blackstone, an international private equity firm that the UN recently accused of “wreaking havoc” on the global affordable housing market with “aggressive evictions” of low and middle income tenants" /2

▪️ Akelius, a Swedish real estate company with some $8bn in global assets who "identify neighbourhoods adjacent to fully gentrified districts" and "and exploit the undercapitalization of its rental housing." /3

▪️ MetCap Living (Parkdale’s biggest landlord with more than 20 apartment buildings), who were "accused of starving out tenants in 2017 on unheeded maintenance requests and issuing heavy rent increases in an effort to drive out low income tenants and attract new ones" /4

▪️ Timbercreek, private equity firm with "$10bn in assets across North America, Europe and Asia" who "bought several Parkdale buildings in the fall of 2018, including the two hulking towers on West Lodge Avenue." /5

Overview of most of #Parkdale, which stretches Dufferin to Roncesvalles, south of the tracks down to the Lake. I've highlighted the apartment buildings on Jameson and West Lodge, and you can see Doomie's of #Vegandale fame/infamy. /6